With Halloween upon us, it’s the perfect time to go exploring Essex’s secret passageways.

There are many tales of secret tunnels across the county which are often associated with spooky goings-on and bloody crimes.

Some are said to be haunted by ghosts of past dwellers, others hid victims of political uprisings and others provided secret passage for the thousands of smugglers who operated along the Essex coast.

There’s too many to mention so Essex Live has picked out some of the best, and spookiest, stories from the Hidden East Anglia website to give you a chill this Halloween.

Here are 13 of the best ones:

Colchester

There is apparently a mini labyrinth of cellars and tunnels beneath the Fox & Fiddler pub in St John’s Street, Colchester, leading to various parts of the town.

The scariest tale from the tunnels tells of a chambermaid called Sarah who is said to have been bricked up alive in a cellar by the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins. Poor Sarah’s ghost is said to still haunt the pub.

Fobbing

Perhaps one of the most chilling stories is that of the tunnel underneath St Michael’s Church in Fobbing which leads to Fobbing Creek, in Thurrock.

The tunnel was frequently used by smugglers who also used the church tower as a landmark when they needed to escape quickly. The scariest story tells of the time that smugglers were chased up the tunnel by the Devil himself who wanted to claim their souls.

Before he could catch them, the smugglers slammed the thick oak passage door behind them, and escaped the Devil’s clutches. There were also tales that the door bore the imprint of Satan’s claw for decades afterwards.

Great Baddow

There is said to be a tunnel underneath St Mary’s Church in Great Baddow, Chelmsford, which has long been said to have housed imposing monastic buildings in the past.

So the stories say, a monk was once trapped in the tunnel beneath the church and was then bricked in. His ghost is said to haunt the church to this day. The tunnel in question is thought to lead to the nearby White Horse pub.

Thorrington

In the old days, there was a country house called Wheelers in Thorrington Parish, near Wivenhoe. There was a room in that house where it was said that there was a haunted room where no one would ever live, and where no plaster or wallpaper would ever stick to the walls.”

An underground passage was said to link Wheelers with St Osyth’s Priory and the entrance to the tunnel was obviously in the haunted room. The passageway was said to be haunted by a ‘dark resident’ and a skeleton was once found in its depths. Wheelers is no longer there but Frating Abbey farmhouse is built on the site.

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Maldon

A haunted tunnel is the best kind of tunnel for Halloween. Just outside Maldon are the remains of Beeleigh Abbey, which was said to be connected to All Saints church in the town via a tunnel.

Reports say that a group of archaeologists once stumbled across the entrance to the tunnels near the church but it was too blocked up for anyone to squeeze through, so they sent a dog in instead.

The dog later popped up in Beeleigh Abbey cellar, proving that the tunnel extended that far. However, there have been stories of ghostly monk-like figures being spotted at the abbey for centuries and the most commonly-told story is that the monks were buried alive in the tunnel while trying to escape the clutches of Henry VIII’s soldiers.

Rochford

Rochford Hall was once owned by the Boleyn family and is said to have a network of tunnels underneath it.

These are said to have been used to allow Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn to meet in secret while he was still married to Catherine of Aragon. They also was used the tunnels so they could sneak out to a nearby in without being seen.

Shoeburyness

There’s a building in Shoeburyness called The Old Red House which has long been said to be haunted by the ghost of a girl who cut her own throat. There’s a chilling tunnel rumoured to connect the house to Suttons Manor House, which is almost a mile away.

Apparently the entrance to the tunnel may have been uncovered in an old well in 1948 but it wasn’t investigated.

Copford

One of the leading names in the persecution of Protestants under the reign of Mary Tudor in the 1500s was Edmund Bonner, aka ‘Bloody Bonner’.

He lived for some time at Copford Hall near Colchester but when the reformers fought back in thee 1540, the Bloody Bonner is said to have hidden valuables from the church in a secret tunnel between the hall and Copford’s nearby church, St Michael.

Southend

There are various tales of smugglers creating tunnels in Southend as it was a hive of smuggling activity in the old days. One of the spookiest ones is a smuggler’s tunnel connected to an old 18 century country house which is said to be haunted by a ghost carrying a lantern.

The country house is now Alleyn Court Preparatory School.

Coggeshall

A mystery passage is said to connect Coggeshall Abbey, which dates back to the 12 century, with Colchester Castle.

In the old days, it was said that as horse’s galloped over the spot in the road above the tunnel, the sound of their hooves changed.

Orsett

There are many reports of a secret passage existing between a house called Lunes and the historic Orsett Hall. Apparently two children found the tunnel entrance in the cellar of the Lunes many years ago and managed to crawl along it for 20m before they got freaked out and gave up.

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Great Chesterfield

If you fancy a late-night treasure hunt on Halloween, then get yourself down to All Saints Church in Great Chesterford in Uttlesford.

A large passage is said to link the church with the Crown House Hotel and the Old Vicarage and in it, it’s said that the church’s silver bells were hidden long ago ti save them from the Roundheads. The bells have never been found but would be worth a pretty penny now.

Wimbish

There was once a mansion house called Broadices in Wimbish village dating back to the 16 century. There is said to be a tunnel running from this site to Hortham Hall several miles away in Thaxted.

This tunnel was said to be used regularly by Catholics who wanted to escape persecution in Tudor times.